Hard Truths
by hummingyay
Summary: Post Season 3. "Do you like Marinette?" Nino's had enough of Marinette disappearing around Adrien and Adrien looking downright depressed about it. Adrienette.


**Notes: **I wrote 3/4 of this fic sometime last week. I was so annoyed by the finale that I immediately began writing and lost some steam lol. Anyway, this is what I had. Enjoy.

* * *

"I want to talk to you about Marinette."

Nino removed his headphones slowly, regarding his best friend. Adrien stood by the edge of the cafeteria table, green gaze firm as he waited for Nino's answer. The boy briefly glanced over the boy's shoulder, quietly observing Marinette and Alya sitting at another table, studying for a test.

Alya was animatedly discussing something with Marinette, her red curls flying wildly as Marinette threw her head back and laughed.

Nino felt the corner of his lip twitch at the happy sound. He was happy Marinette had a friend like Alya to make her feel better. As one of Marinette's oldest friends, it was so difficult seeing her recent emotional status.

"Sure dude," he shrugged, "What's up?"

Adrien slid into the seat across from Nino, folding his fingers over each other and resting them on the table. Distantly, Nino heard another peal of laughter escape Marinette's lips. She was hugging Alya tightly, rocking her best friend back and forth.

God, he was so happy Alya was here.

As Adrien's best friend, Alya's boyfriend and Marinette's oldest friend, it was difficult juggling his roles as supportive friend and partner, especially once Adrien started hanging out with Kagami more often. He could see the forlorn look that briefly overtook Marinette's face before she schooled her emotions and smiled at Adrien.

"_Oh, Kagami and I are going to the bakery for lunch, did you want to come with us, Marinette?"_

_Marinette blinked at Adrien, brows furrowed._

"_Good _God_," Alya grumbled, her voice only low enough for Nino and Marinette to hear._

_Nino fought back the urge to yell "_Dude_!" and to smack his oblivious best friend upside the head. He didn't even need to look at Alya to know that his girlfriend was absolutely livid. Next to Alya, Marinette sat up straight, her back stiff and her face clearly uncomfortable. _

_Her pretty bluebell eyes, which were always sparkling with mirth, revealed a quiet storm rumbling storm in Marinette's mind. Adrien smiled, his eyes softening considerably, quietly waiting for her response. _

_If Nino were being honest, it looked like Adrien was more than happy to wait forever for Marinette's response. _

_For all the flirting the boy had done with Kagami Tsurugi, especially while Nino was around, not once had he seen Adrien react the same way he did around Marinette. _

_He looked at her…_

"_Marinette?" he said her name softly, almost reverently. _

…_as if she were the only thing that mattered to him. _

_Nino really didn't understand Adrien. _

"_O…Oh…" Marinette cleared her throat, "Well, I—" _

_The look on Marinette's face alone was enough to make Nino want to cry. It pained him to see Marinette hurting and trying so hard to be there for Adrien. Then again, it was in Marinette's character to sacrifice so much of herself to make others happy._

_She'd always been like that, even from when they were little kids._

_He could feel his heart breaking. _

"_Marinette promised she'd show us how to make charm bracelets," Alya interrupted smoothly, hugging the petite girl to her body protectively, "Maybe next time, Adrien." _

_Nino saw Adrien's face falter briefly, miffed at Alya's detached rebuff. His girlfriend didn't even try to hide her displeasure at his friend's obliviousness. He couldn't force Adrien to love Marinette (even if he thought he did.) No, of course he couldn't and he never would do that…_

…_however, all he asked was that Adrien paid a little more attention to his friends._

_Her crush on Adrien was perhaps probably known among the entire student body. _

_Which was also why kids from other classes worried for Marinette when Adrien had walked into school one day holding Kagami's hand. The news was so widely spread that some kids even thought that Marinette would have been akumatized over the events. _

_It wasn't surprising when nobody could find any dark butterflies around the girl._

_Instead, Marinette choose to occupy her time by hanging out with her friends and working on projects. _

_He'd told her on multiple occasions that nobody would blame her if she just wanted to spend some time away from the happy couple._

_Adrien smiled at Marinette, his grin not quite as bright as it was before, "Oh, okay. Well, maybe next time. I'll see you guys later! Bye, Marinette." _

"_Bye," Marinette waved. _

_Marinette shook her head one day, and mentioned quietly while she was mending one of her dolls, "If I do that, I'd make him sad. I just want Adrien to be happy, Nino. I'll be fine." _

Nino knew that Marinette would recover from this, but it didn't sit well with him that she was suffering, and Adrien knew absolutely none of it.

Marinette had always been a selfless person, putting her needs before others to almost a self-sacrificing degree. It was what made her so well-liked in their class. And though it wasn't surprising that Marinette had given up any opportunity to pursue Adrien for his own happiness with Kagami, the fact of the matter was that Marinette had tried _so _hard for him and none of it was known.

Adrien would _want _to know these things, Nino had insisted. Adrien didn't like secrets or being kept out of things or unintentionally hurting someone's feelings. Marinette merely shook her head.

Even if Marinette hadn't allowed herself to say it, the fact of the matter was as clear as day. Marinette had fallen deeply in love with Adrien, and, in a classic Marinette-like manner, let him go off with another girl and not say anything. And it was all because she believed he'd be happier with her.

It was a bitter pill to swallow.

Adrien appeared to be concentrating, running the tips of his fingers along the material of the soft blue scarf—his favorite scarf—he had received for his birthday last year.

(Alya had revealed that it was a gift from Marinette a few months into dating. And when Nino had approached Marinette about it, her answer was still the same.

"He was so happy when he thought the gift was from him, I couldn't take that away from him, Nino," Marinette reasoned. She gave Nino a reassuring smile, "I just want him to be happy.")

"Adrien?" Nino asked.

"Oh! Right…" Adrien refocused on Nino, Marinette's scarf still firmly pressed between his fingers, "I've just noticed that Marinette hasn't really been wanting to be around me lately."

Nino was genuinely surprised that Adrien noticed it.

Marinette had made herself scarce in the passing weeks, not out of anger, but just so she could wrap her head around the entire situation. She wanted Adrien to be happy with Kagami, but she also didn't want to hurt. She just needed a little time.

It was understandable, since Adrien was the first guy Marinette had ever come to like so much. His heart throbbed thinking of the unrequited love story.

Alya had been more than supportive of the gesture, sticking to Marinette's side all throughout school (which ultimately meant that Nino would be there too.) He just didn't realize that it was specifically Marinette's departure from Adrien's everyday life that had brought his best friend to the table.

Nino eyed Adrien carefully, "Are you _sure _she hasn't been wanting to hang around you?"

"I'm pretty sure…" Adrien insisted, "She can't even look at me, and always has something come up whenever I'm in the room."

When Nino didn't respond, Adrien continued, "I don't know, it's just that when I see her trying to hard to avoid me…" he smiled sadly at the ground and reached up to clutch at his chest, "It just kind of hurts, you know?"

Nino'd had enough. To hell with what everyone said, Nino'd had _enough_ of this. There were too many people hurting and not enough of them _talking_. Squaring his shoulders, he looked Adrien in the eye.

He sighed, and leaned forward on the table.

"Adrien, do you like Marinette?"

Adrien's head snapped up in alarm, his golden hair bouncing from the sudden movement.

"I-I'm sorry, what?" Adrien's eyes frantically searched Nino's, looking for clarification. Nino stayed steady as ever.

"Do you like Marinette? Do you like her in the I want to buy you flowers for no reason and hold your hand kind of way?"

"Well, she's a good friend—"

He wasn't going to let him get away with _that_ for an answer.

"Adrien," Nino sighed, "That's not an answer. Do you _like _her?"

"I…I don't—" Adrien's eyes shifted to the ground, his brows furrowed together tightly, "Why are you asking me this?"

"I'm asking because you're checking in on her constantly—"

"—she's my friend!" he protested.

"You're always trying to _hang _out with her or bring her along with you and Kagami, Adrien," Nino countered, "It's not normal."

Adrien was silent.

"Look man," Nino sighed, "I wasn't gonna say anything, but I can't keep you in the dark. Marinette likes you. Like, she really, _really _likes you."

"For how long?"

"Marinette said something about you giving her an umbrella at the beginning of the year when it was raining."

Adrien gaped because it was quite some time ago that Adrien had transferred to their class. He spluttered loudly, his cheeks erupted into flames. It was a good thing that Lila'd had the rest of the class occupied with her latest adventure to Area 51 in the States, otherwise, Adrien would have been attracting a lot of attention.

"W-Why didn't she say anything before?!" he cried.

Nino shrugged, "I mean, she's tried but she isn't exactly the most coherent around you."

"When?" Adrien demanded, "I want to know!"

Nino looked down at the blue scarf around Adrien's neck, "You should probably ask her about that scarf then."

"My father gifted me this for my birthday," Adrien explained, but Nino shook his head.

"No, Marinette mentioned she'd tried to give it to you at school, but freaked out," he shared, "She dropped it off at your house later on that day, and the next thing she knew, you were wearing it and saying it was from your old man."

Nino knew what he was saying would hurt Adrien's perception of his own father, but to be honest, the man wasn't fit to be a parent. Stealing birthday presents from 13-year-olds! He should be _ashamed_. Adrien seemed to believe Nino, running his finger along the soft material.

"But why didn't she say anything?" Adrien whispered, "If she's doing all of these kind things for me, then I want to _know_."

"Why else would she do it?" Nino answered, "She saw that you were happy knowing that it was from your dad, and didn't want to take that from you. She's been doing that this entire time, and she did it again when Chloe's parents were akumatized, when you and Kagami got together."

"What?" Adrien asked, "Kagami and I—Nino, we aren't together. We weren't ever together."

Nino shrugged, "Well, it definitely doesn't look that way."

He'd never seen Adrien so upset before in the months that he'd known him. After dozens of broken promises from his father, and tons of responsibilities, Nino hadn't seen the look of sheer _heartbreak _on Adrien's face until he'd found out that Marinette Dupain-Cheng was in pain because of him. He could see Adrien's eyes beginning to gloss over, and knew that if he didn't do something soon, he'd be witnessing his best friend openly weeping in the cafeteria.

At that point, Alya would definitely be able to put two and two together and unceremoniously sacrifice him.

"D-Don't take it too hard, Adrien," Nino backtracked, "It's not your fault! Marinette just made a choice…"

Which was true.

Marinette made a choice to let go of Adrien.

"But what about _my _choice?" Adrien asked, "Marinette's the kindest person I've ever known, and I adore her for always thinking about me, but I should be able to make informed choices rather than just believing a bunch of lies."

He didn't wait for Nino to answer, instead kicking away from the table and rising to his feet.

"I know what to do now," he announced, smiling over at Nino for a moment, "Thanks for telling me. You really are my best friend."

Nino nodded, "Yeah, well I also did for Marinette. I've known her forever, so take care of her or else I'll have to fight you in a parking lot or something."

Chuckling, Adrien ran off towards Marinette's table. He watched as he animatedly spoke to the flustered girl before gently taking her hand and guiding her away from the cafeteria. A moment later, Alya was sitting where Adrien had been, eyeing her boyfriend suspiciously.

"What did you do?" she asked.

Nino shrugged and laid back in his seat, "I'd like to call it 'enlightening the oblivious.'"

"So, you told him."

"I told him," Nino confirmed, ignoring Alya's exasperated expression, "But it's okay now! He knows, and now he'll be able to make choices that won't land us all in a pit of teenage angst."

He grasped Alya's hands and peered deeply into her hazel eyes, "They're going to be okay, Alya."

"…"

"It'll be _okay_."

Alya seemed to believe him, and that's the best that Nino could hope for.


End file.
